SCENE IN COURT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1751, 27 September 1905, Page 69

SCENE IN COURT

“ MARRY IN HASTE AND REPENT AT LEISURE.” The comparative ease with which the marriage bond may be dissolved in this and many other countries is no doubt responsible for the frequent exemplifications heard nowadays of the truth of the proverb, “ Marry in haste and repent at leisure.” Hardly a sitting of the Divorce Court is held but the old story of insufficient acquaintance prior to matrimony bringing sorrow and misery, often to many more than the persons immediately concerned, is heard. On the 19th inst. his Honor Mr Justice Cooper had to listen to another of these distressing tales. A young -and attrac-tive-looking woman, named Clara. Lydia Jeffreys, whose maiden name was Green, asked the Court to release her from, marital obligations to her husband, Francis Henry Jeffreys, a butcher by Ixracfe, who is “‘"at present serving a sentence of eighteen months’ imprisonment in the Terrace Gaol for forgeryi The grounds of the petition were that the respondent was an habitual drunkard, had been guilty of frequent acts of cruelty to- his wife, -and had frequently left her without any adequate means of support. There was no appearance for the respondent, but the petitioner was represented by Mr Williams. Counsel, in opening the case, told the Court that the petitioner’s miserable domestic experience was remarkable in that it presented all the offences alleged as grounds for the petition, and also other offences, which emphasised the intolerable nature of the petitioner’s condition whilst living as a married woman. The respondent had been a hopeless dipsomaniac, systematically cruel to his wife, had failed to contribute to her maintenance, or that of her children, and by his dishonest conduct had brought shame upon everyone connected with him. In May last he w.as sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment for forgery, and his Honor the Chief Justice then took occasion to remark that he was one of that hopeless class of men which it was impossible to know what to do with —they only came out of gaol to return to it, and it was doubtful if any remedy could be devised for such persons unless it were the system of “ indeterminate sentences ” adopted in America, - under which a man after conviction was not released from prison at all until the authorities were satisfied that he had regained sufficient moral strength to enable him to stand alone. The petitioner gave evidence that she was married to the respondent at Wanganui in the Registrar’s Office on May 31st, 1898. They had known each other only three or four months. Subsequently, they lived at Petone, Wellington, and the Hubt, and then he left her. Two children —a boy and girl were born of the marriage. • Before they left Wanganui the respondent commenced drinking, and . came homo drunk practically every night. This conduct began within two months of their marriage. While they were in Wanganui he attempted to cut her throat with a razor; he was sharpening his razor “It’s a lie, Clara!” a well-dressed young woman screamed- from the gallery in piercing tones and a voice tremulous with what was apparently indignant anger. “It’s a lie; and you know better; I can’t stand here and hear my brother maligned.”

His Honor (quietly): “If that womajj does not keep still, she must be refr moved from the gallery.’^'' “I can’t help it,” replied the offender, still speaking loudly, as if under tbf greatest excitement, ct l am his sisteij* and I contradict every word of Olara, and you know different.” His Honor 'sternly) : “Turn that WO* man out if she can’t behave herself.” But before the officers could carrtf out the instruction she. could be heard rushing rapidly down the stairs, ap* parently with the intention of entering the body of the Court and continuing her interruptions. If this was her jeot it was frustrated, and the without having to use violence, induced her to go out into the street.. - Calm being again restored, the evh* denoe of the petitioner was continue®. She said her husband put his razor ttff her . throat," and threatened her life. He had also pointed a gun at her, ana just before her first child was born hj} pushed her through a glass w-jbdortfft He. did not pay the rent, and she turned out on the beach at •Peton.o4. She had on several occasions had w leave him, and go to 1 live with her parents in Nelson, where she was at present residing and supporting herself and her children by dressmaking. On one occasion, when she was in Nelson, she received a letter from him, written in his mother’s name, saying he was dying, and begging her to come back. She came back, and found him dead in prison several times. One time she met him when he came out of goal, and he got drunk the same day. He sometimes used to threaten to hum the house down, and would throw lighted matches at her and the children. Frederick Robert Bust, a butcher re r siding at the Lqjver Hutt, said the respondent was a first-class workman, but his downfall was due to di’ink. Similar evidence was given by Jaaies Childs, Mrs Mary Ann Mao Cormack, John Mac Cormack. Jabez Woolridge, and Miss Mabel Sylvia Green (sister of the petitioner). ‘ His Honor said the petitioner "'was entitled to her decree. It was one of those cases in which a marriage had taken place without the wife having knowledge of the habits of the husband—— Mr Williams; “Marry in haste; re--peiit at leisure.” His Honor said he had often had occasion to remark that young women, engaged themselves to marry men with less investigation into their lives and characters than a lawyer or merchant would make if he were employing .iaA office clerk. In this case the petitioner was entitled to release, and he would grant the rule nisi, with costs on the lowest scale, to he moved absolute ai the expiration of three months; in the meantime the petitioner to have custody of her children, but- she was directed to apply to a Judge after the rule was made absolute for the permanent custody of them.